Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1)

by D H Sidebottom

  “Yes,” he confirmed, his eyes studying my inner hatred.

  I snorted bitterly. “And it still grieves her after all this time, all this funding and all the experiments that she’s only managed to actually manufacture eight of us. She can’t understand why certain ones don’t make it, and the eight of us did. Plus the fact all eight of us used our ‘abilities’ to break out of that damn place, taking away all her hard work.” I laughed, picturing her anger every time one of us had escaped.

  She hated the fact that for some unknown reason, we could link minds, like the software that had been planted in our brains was connected to some sort of Wi-Fi only the eight of us could access, in the same way as you can link all your home PCs via your home broadband network. So she taught us how to block each other. She wasn’t sure if anyone could gain entry into our minds, and she was scared someone would find out what each of us were, therefore putting us at risk—or so she’d said. I never knew whether to believe her, but I was more than aware of her selfishness. I wondered if that bond had sensed Reid near me when I ran, and had brought me to him subconsciously.

  Lowering my eyes to the floor, I gulped. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, if I’d given her what she wanted, me twenty-four-seven, she wouldn’t have used you and the others to test on.”

  “Bullshit!” he barked, making me jump. “You know damn well, you’d never have been enough.”

  “Story of my life, Reid.”

  His brows puckered. “What?”

  “Nothing, ignore me.”

  I pressed my hands into the sofa to push myself off, realising quite suddenly, I needed the bathroom. I moved at the same time as the floor did—well I like to think it was the floor that moved and not the fact that I was legless that affected my ability to stand up. My body side-skipped to the left, my right knee bent, flinging my foot in the air as I rather elegantly dove sideways, the whole left side of my body hitting the floor with a sexy thump.

  I lay still, blinking, wondering how the fuck I had managed to go from standing to laid on the floor within 0.4 seconds then cringed when I heard a strangled snigger from Reid. I rolled onto my back and groaned. “Maybe I should have eaten that sandwich.”

  He laughed harder and peered over the edge of the sofa, a huge grin on his face, one that completely transformed his usual stark fury. “When was the last time you drank?”

  I tucked my hands behind my head and pursed my lips in thought. “Around six months into my Judgement residency. Janice told me about . . .” I coughed, covering up my slip up. “I snuck into her private quarters one night, in a mood. I trashed her place and found her bottle of gin. Needless to say, I had a thoroughly enjoyable night.”

  His grin turned into a soft smile, his eyes warming but holding a deep sadness. He was silent for a moment, just watching me. I slid my eyes to his, flinching when the connection fooled my mind into thinking it wanted company, the tell-tale shot of warmth alerting me that someone wanted in. I blinked, blocking him and causing him to sigh in frustration.

  “You’ll let me inside you one day, Elina.”

  I smiled properly at him, a huge mischievous grin erupting as I quirked an eyebrow. “Now that’s a statement that could be taken the wrong way.”

  His mouth popped open. Another wide smile gave me a flash of his white teeth. “Little girl,” he whispered in that low gruff voice that sent my stomach into my nether regions. “Maybe I didn’t mean it in the wrong way. Maybe I meant it completely and utterly in the right way.”

  It was my turn to still, my eyes widening before he slipped off the sofa and onto the floor beside me. I lost the use of all my organs when he straddled my thighs and dropped his hands to either side of my face with a heavy thud. My breath caught when he leaned in towards me, bringing the tip of his nose to mine. His breath was warm with a subtle trace of cigarette smoke, and strangely, freshly cooked bread. My body decided it liked those scents, warmth spreading throughout my lower belly and my nipples hardening. All the moisture left my mouth and made its way south, making me wonder if it was something scientific, like a portal in your body that took something from one place and delivered it where it was needed. I gulped back a moan when my arousal extended to a completely new degree.

  He surprised me when he asked in a low voice, “Have you ever had anything normal?”

  I wasn’t sure if the lust that controlled my mind and body was deciphering his question in completely the wrong way, or whether it was a genuine innocent question but I asked anyway.

  “You mean have I ever had sex?”

  His lips twisted, a sinful but sexy grin answering my question. He shook his head slowly from side to side and pressed harder into me, his soft lips brushing over mine, his hard cock pushing into my belly. “No, Elina.” I whimpered faintly when his tongue slowly trailed across his bottom lip and his eyes grew so hot I thought I would melt from his stare. “I meant . . . have you ever fucked!”

  The way he said ‘fucked,’ all deep and gravelly and hard and angrily had my womb threatening to overpower me and lash the fuck out of me if I didn’t do something about the wet, warm pulsing that was torturing my pussy.

  “Uhh, yeah, that too.”

  He quirked an eyebrow, commanding an answer.

  I coughed, clearing my throat. “Well, that all depends really, whether your definition of fucking is the same as my definition of fucking. ‘Cos, you know, everyone has different . . .”

  I shut the hell up when he slammed his mouth to mine, refusing my words and demanding I open my lips for a completely different reason. I moaned into him when he took my bottom lip between his teeth and parted my lips for me, allowing him to thrust his tongue into my mouth and wrap my own around his, deepening the kiss and intensifying the heat travelling around my blood. His hands clamped each side of my head, holding me in place while he devoured my God damned soul.

  He growled, triggering a heaving shudder through me when I grabbed his arse, pulling him up slightly and harder into me. I shivered with the feel of his erection, even harder than it had been five minutes ago. I was doing that to him, making him hard and eager, causing him to lose control. I’d never had this reaction before. My sex life had consisted of a quick grope in the dark, a quick nibble of my tits and a slam dunk home run. That was it. But this, the way Reid consumed me, demolishing all my self-restraint, was frightening but too good to pull back from.

  I lifted a hand to one of his that was pressed to the side of my face and grabbed it, shamelessly moving it to my breast, encouraging him, begging him.

  He gave out a long tortured groan then snapped backwards, panting and licking his swollen lips. I could feel his heart racing against mine, his erection threatening to rip a hole in his sweatpants, which I’d only just realised he’d changed into. I’d missed an easy opening there!

  “Shit!”

  I froze, recoiling with that one word of revulsion. Sensing my hurt he shook his head and scowled at me. “You’re drunk!”

  Pushing at his chest, amazed that I managed to shift his bulk, I scowled back at him. “I’m not that bloody pissed . . . and I’m not that easy.”

  He paused, his eyebrows pulling together until they practically merged into one. “What the fuck?”

  I clumsily pulled myself upright, holding onto the back of the sofa to steady myself. I was embarrassed, not just by his rejection but with how easily I had let him take me.

  I remained silent as I stumbled over to the bed, snatched up the throw and flung it at him before I pulled back the duvet and slipped inside, turning my back on him and telling him in no uncertain terms that it was bedtime . . . alone.

  He grumbled something under his breath, something like, ‘Women. Can’t fucking work ’em out,’ and then huffed and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness. He stumbled back to the sofa, grunting and bringing a satisfied smile to my lips when he banged into the table and let out a string of profanities.

  Arsehole.


  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?”

  Her back remained to me. Her head was snapped to one side, her ear resting on her shoulder as she stared out through the window into the night. The room was cool but the long shirt of mine she slept in clung to her back with the amount of sweat pouring from her.

  “Elina?”

  “There’s a storm coming.” The way she spoke, so quiet and flat, made the hairs on the back of my neck rise, my enhanced senses on alert.

  Taking a step closer I noticed how tightly her fists were clenched. Her nails had embedded into the soft flesh of her palm so deep I was amazed she wasn’t bleeding. The tiny hairs in my ears picked up the vibrations of her body. She hummed, the entirety of her pulsating with a sharp, almost suffocating energy.

  My eyes snapped to the window when a bolt of lightning shot across the darkness, the white streak spreading across the sky in a line. I didn’t like the way it appeared to change direction, my frown deepening when it jolted and snapped, sensing a new target and shifting. It was only due to my superior eyesight that I had noticed its alteration, its impulsive reach for us . . . for Elina; its mistress.

  My eyes slowly moved back to Elina as my heart forgot to beat. “Fuck!”

  “There’s a storm coming, Reid.” Her whisper was cold, deadly.

  I looked around the room, my eyes scanning for something I could use to wrap around her. Knowing it was pointless, I snatched up the blanket I’d been sleeping under and took a deep breath.

  She was still and pliant as I slid the soft wool around her shoulders and lifted her carefully into my arms. Her body was tiny and soft, her pretty face pale and covered in a mass of freckles. She was feather-light; I tucked her against me, despite the pain of holding her. I ignored how good she felt against me, the subtle smell of lilies and fresh dew, and concentrated on the pain. My teeth throbbed and I clamped them together to ride through it. The energy pulsing from her crackled loudly, a heat so intense I was surprised the blanket didn’t burst into flames when it touched the glow of her skin.

  “Fuck!” I cried out when my muscles screamed out in pain. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” I sucked in a breath. The agony from simply being near her was almost unbearable but I knew if I didn’t get her downstairs we were fucked.

  Another streak lit the sky, then another, and another. Multiple flashes burst in sequence towards us, their power making night appear like day.

  Elina’s eyes closed. The sky lit up. The lights flickered on and off so rapidly that everything around me materialised in sporadic succession, my furniture blinking at me as I ran through the room.

  Her head snapped back and she released a long moan as I took to the stairs, jumping down them two at a time. “Hold on, little girl.” The pain on her face was torturous as she let out the most agonising scream, the intensity of her pain making me wince. “Hold on!”

  She jolted, her body twitching manically under the blanket. I punched in the code for the training area door and nearly laughed in delight when it swung open quickly. “Elina? You need to control it. Take hold of it.”

  She screamed again, tears springing from her eyes and her delicate body bowing with the punishment as an explosion ripped through my apartment. I closed my eyes, refusing to allow the thoughts of what the lightning had done to my photographs as I broke through the door to the padded room and kicked the door shut behind us, placing Elina gently in the middle on the chair. I couldn’t move fast enough as I fired up the software program and pulled the helmet down over her head.

  “REID!”

  She was struggling to breathe as explosions tore apart my club, my home; my stomach churned angrily at the destruction. When a choked cry left her I swore to God I would make them pay for what they had done to her, to the others, to Petra.

  “Elina!” I strapped the helmet on. “Listen to me. I’m going to help you as much as I can but you need to fight it. Fight back.”

  She shook her head, her eyes pleading with me. “Reid! Get out of here!”

  I ignored her as I strapped the rest of her body down in the chair and flicked the switches on the control panel.

  “Ride it, Elina!” I ordered when she started to shake.

  The overhead cables spat when they captured a surge of electricity from her. I double checked everything, preparing, and blew out a deep breath as I snatched her hand in mine. I couldn’t hold back the cry that tore from me when an overwhelming power streamed through me.

  “Go!” she begged.

  I shook my head, gritting my teeth at the brutal torment. “You kill me and I will take your little ass and spank it fucking pink!”

  Her eyes widened and she started to say something but all that came out was another cry when the walls of the room shook, nature’s power fighting to get to her. My eyes darted around, making sure the lightning hadn’t penetrated and broken our small shelter.

  “Elina!”

  She had gone again, surrendered to the energy riding her tiny body. Her eyes rolled back as an angry snarl burst from her. Her back arched, her body lifted off the chair, her fingers snapped open and her lips parted as ecstasy stormed her. I bit my lip when she moaned, my mind associating the sound erotically and picturing her making the exact same sound for me as her body bowed beneath mine.

  “Shit!” I shook her as the building roared with her. “Elina!”

  I dropped her hand, knowing she couldn’t hear me now. Taking her head in my hands, I forced my body to relax and closed my eyes.

  She battled with me, forcing me back time after time but I pushed through, warming her mind with pleasure, dripping ecstasy into her as I fought back. When she sighed and dropped back onto the chair I knew I was in.

  I grew angry as I worked my way through. It was hard to find what I needed but something jumped out and I latched onto it.

  “Mummy, I want the pink. Pink, Mummy!”

  Janice smiled down at her, nodding in delight. Taking the brush, she plastered Elina’s tiny hand in pink paint, coating every plump little finger in a mass of bright colour.

  “Quickly, before it drips.” Janice took her daughter’s hand and pressed it to the paper.

  Elina giggled when she lifted her hand and a pink splodge resided beside the other painted hands. “Again!” she demanded as she jumped up and down in the chair.

  “Careful, honey, don’t fall.” Janice held her shoulders, stopping Elina from falling.

  “I won’t fall, silly.” Elina smiled widely at her mother. “You won’t let me hurt, Mummy.”

  Janice’s face fell, her throat bobbing as sadness took her. Her eyes dampened and she looked lovingly at Elina.

  Elina squealed with glee when she spotted another colour, unaware of her mother’s sorrow. “Blue!” Her wide hazel eyes begged for more. “Blue, Mummy.”

  Janice nodded, pulling out of her musing, a smile once more appearing and lighting her face. “Blue it is. And then green. And then yellow, we must have yellow, El, it’s so happy.”

  “Like us, Mummy. We’ll always be happy won’t we, ‘cos you love me and I love you.”

  Janice leaned forward, pressing her mouth to Elina’s head, her eyes squeezing closed. “Always, honey. I’ll love you always.”

  I pulled out when I felt her sag under my hands. Silence descended, an eerie calm around us now the storm had passed.

  My breath stilled as my eyes found Elina. She stared at me, a deep sorrow in her eyes as a tear dripped from the corner and trickled slowly down her cheek, pooling at the dip of her ear. “I had forgotten,” she whispered. “The happiness.”

  I gulped, her heartache tangible and choking.

  Her eyes were heavy, her slow blink making me aware of her exhaustion. I tucked my thumb under a stray piece of hair that was stuck to her flushed cheek and moved it away softly. “Sleep.”

  She nodded and closed her eyes. Waiting until her breathing steadied, I unbuckled the restraints and took the helmet from her head gently so as not to wake her. I couldn’t take my eyes from her
face, the beauty of her intensifying now she was at peace. Her soft breaths were soothing to my harsh ones. She didn’t deserve this life. Fuck, no one did. After Petra died, I made it my mission to find the others. The night Elina ran into my club, I thought she was one of the eight.

  But I was wrong. She wasn’t one of the eight.

  She was the one.

  MY MOUTH WAS SO dry, my lips were stuck to my teeth. My sore throat struggled under my attempt to swallow and my heavy eyes protested when I peeled them open.

  I scanned the room, blinking frequently to clear the blur. What the fuck?

  The room was strange. It was as large as it was colourful, masses of authentic African furnishings and décor made my eyes narrow in confusion. The heavy ethnic features were a stark contrast to the aroma of frying bacon in the air and the heavy tunes of Linkin Park beating through the walls.

  I slipped out of bed, glancing down at the new t-shirt that covered me. It wasn’t as large as Reid’s other one but it was as long, the hemline covering my gangly knees, thankfully.

  Following the tunes through the strange house, I emerged into a small kitchen.

  Jonah swung around when he sensed me and smiled widely, reaching for a small control and turning down the music. “Well, sleeping beauty has arisen. You hungry, sugar?”

  “Where am I?”

  His huge brow creased for a moment. “You’re at my house.”

  I nodded, taking in the bright kitchen. “Why?”

  He regarded me with a curious gaze then sighed and pulled out a chair for me at the small table. “Tea? Coffee?”

  “Uhh.” I squinted, my frazzled brain refusing to play ball. I must have really downed some vodka the night before. “Tea. Please.”

  He nodded and smiled, then proceeded to brew me my morning drink as I gawped at my new surroundings.

  “How much do you remember?” Jonah asked when he placed my drink in front of me and took the chair next to me.

  “What?” I blew the tea over the rim then took a sip. “I got drunk with Reid. But . . .” I blew out a breath and shrugged. “I don’t think I was that drunk.”